HEADLINE: Vaudeville and Catskills-style humor is alive and well
on the rock circuit, as demonstrated by the Aimee Mann and Michael Penn
Revue at San Francisco's Bimbo's on Tuesday night, the first stop on a short
U.S. tour.

BYLINE: Denise Sullivan

Married couple Mann and Penn were joined by their coterie of musicians,
comedian Patton Oswald and local yokel Chris Isaak over the course of a
two-hour set, a mix of traded songs, quips, high notes, bum notes, bungled
lyrics, old chestnuts and forthcoming material.

"I never felt too comfortable with between-song banter, so it occurred
to me to have someone else do my banter for me tonight," said Mann
at the outset when she called on Oswald to serve as ventriloquist. "Hi,
I'm Aimee 'Golden Globe nominee' Mann," said Oswald. "Welcome
to my show. I'm Aimee 'My Searching Personal Songs Are Not as Good as Phil
Collins' Cartoon Songs' Mann," referring to her loss at the Hollywood
awards ceremony earlier in the week. Sure it was funny, but as the night
wore on, Oswald grew more mean, obtuse, and just plain annoying.

Falling into position, Buddy Judge (bass and guitar) Michael Penn (guitar
and bass) and Johnny Sands (drums) picked up on cue for two of Mann's cutting
songs, "You Could Make a Killing," with its incessant title refrain,
and "Choice In the Matter," which had Penn chiming in on vocals.

At her strongest, Mann's voice and conviction echo those of Chrissie
Hynde. She also specializes in the double-entendre and scathing indictment
lyric, set to incongruous, glistening pop melodies. Songs like "Calling
It Quits" which she played to great effect Tuesday is a star example.
Could it possibly detail her stormy relationships with people and major
record labels?

Penn, whose MP4 hits stores next Tuesday, reclined on the drum
riser during a number of Mann's songs, though he added some very necessary
"ooo-ooos" on "Save Me" and others. Mann explained away
the use of a drum loop for "That's Just What You Are" by saying
that the group had no bus to haul equipment for a full band sound (presumably,
that situation will be rectified soon since Penn recently wrapped production
on the Wallflowers' long-awaited second album). The canned loop sounded
dead in the room, but Mann saved face with a flawless "Wise Up"
(as heard in Jerry Maguire and Magnolia) and a stunning "Deathly,"
the song which inspired director Paul Thomas Anderson to write the screenplay
for Magnolia based on the line, "Now that I've met you, would
you object to never seeing each other again."

When the round-robin jumped back to Penn, he went for a six-song snooze-a-thon
wherein he debuted new material like the mysteriously complex "The
Perfect Candidate" and "Bucket Brigade," a tune as futile
as the Civil War-era melody that seemed to inspire it. "Try" from
Resigned and the "Subterranean Homesick Blues"-style "Brave
New World" were greeted with roars of crowd recognition.

What might've worked to both artists' advantage on this night would have
been more rehearsal and mixing things up, as they did on "No Myth."
When they played dueling vocals on Penn's most famous number, it was goose-bump
worthy -- the kind of moment we should've been witnessing all night from
a pair of soulmates and musicians. Instead, they frittered away valuable
stage time by flubbing the words to their own songs (Penn's "I Can
Tell" and Mann's "4th of July") and by inviting Isaak to
the stage.

While revving up a spooky version of Mann's sobering Til' Tuesday hit,
"Voices Carry," Isaak ambled onto the stage, clumsily strapping
on a bass, claiming not to know how to play it. Breaking special guest rule
number one, Isaak proceeded to mic-hog and riff with Mann. "I bought
all your records," he said. "Your picture is right over my bed.
Yours too, Michael," he said to Penn, who by this time had retreated
behind the drum kit. Mann tried to reel Isaak in, but her efforts were futile.
"It's a bossa nova beat," she said. "It's a raga," to
which Isaak did a Steve Martin/King Tut dance. It was high time someone
pulled out another old vaudevillian stage prop: the cane.